%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=lvky1uscibzv5zankrq67roh%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fanon-discontinuity_xkcd4_9883.png]]]][[caption-width-right:300:That's ''Film/TheMatrix'' they're talking about, in case you were wondering.]]

->'''Comic Book Guy:''' That was an imaginary story dreamed up by Jimmy Olsen after Supergirl's horse Comet kicked him in the head. It never really happened.\\'''Bart Simpson:''' Hey, none of this stuff ever ''really'' happened.\\'''Comic Book Guy:''' ...Get out of my store.-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Husbands and Knives"[[note]]This quote could just as easily be talking about {{Retcon}}s as well as this trope.[[/note]]

Fanon ("Fan Canon") Discontinuity is the act of fans mentally writing out certain events in a show's continuity which don't sit well, no matter if it's a single episode, [[DorkAge a season-length arc]], an entire season or even an entire ''series''. If a plot or [[SnicketWarningLabel ending]] rubs one the wrong way severely enough, fandom can just decide that the offending events never happened. On the series level, events may fall under Discontinuity because the show is perceived to [[DorkAge suck at that point]] or [[JumpTheShark decline too far in quality]]. Events also get "discontinued" for particularly screwing up the characters or setting, and a show that starts to suck will end up screwing things up eventually anyway.

In effect, Fanon Discontinuity is the opposite of {{fanon}} (and not unrelated, either: a great amount of Fanon Discontinuity has resulted from violations of fanon). While extremely negative audience reactions may lead to an offending storyline being [[CanonDiscontinuity officially removed from canon]] in response, Fanon Discontinuity specifically refers to when ''fans'' disregard a storyline ''regardless'' of the creators' opinion on it.

In moviedom, {{Sequelitis}} is the most common cause of Fanon Discontinuity. It's very common to hear fans of a popular movie series disavow all sequels beyond a certain point, typically the first or second movie. For example, the unofficial slogan of the ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' fandom is, "There Should Have Been Only One" (a play on the franchise's famous quote of "ThereCanBeOnlyOne," in case you're wondering). Fanon discontinuity can easily occur if the hated storylines are the last ever made and it's easy to pretend that the real ending was in the good ones. If more episodes/installments are made and these are loved and canon-worthy, hated storylines can still become Fanon discontinuity if the hated ones can easily be written out without any loss to the good stories. Discontinuity becomes less likely and more difficult to achieve when the loved storylines keep making references to the previous hated storylines and solidifying them as canon, even when they do admit that they really sucked.

It should be noted that this can be justified in cases of RunningTheAsylum, as it's clear the people in charge are largely trying to impose their own {{fanon}}.

Sometimes discontinuity comes from not liking a very specific element while still enjoying everything else. When this happens, you've applied BroadStrokes to the {{canon}}. Not to be confused with NegativeContinuity.

One of the meta-causes of AlternateUniverse.

If the questionable elements are written out of canon by the [[WordOfGod creators themselves]], then said elements entered in CanonDiscontinuity territory, or, luckily, are given a DiscontinuityNod. If the creator just bashes it, then it's CreatorBacklash. If, on the other hand, the controversial element is somehow reworked into being tolerable or even popular, it's been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap. See also TheyChangedItNowItSucks and LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain.

''Note: This is highly subjective, more based on the fandom rather than the event itself. The visceral response to fanon discontinuity can baffle other fans who don't take the event as seriously, or even like the event. Please only post examples of the fandom as a whole disregarding an event. Also, using this as a {{pothole}} is generally rather rude, so please don't do it unless you want to use CanonDiscontinuity instead.''

!!In-universe examples:* At the end of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'''s treatment of ''Film/TheGirlInLoversLane'', the bots are profoundly depressed by the movie's DownerEnding, specifically the ShockingSwerve death of lovable waitress Carrie. Joel offers the bots a refreshing epiphany that more or less ''defines'' FanonDiscontinuity: you don't have to ''accept'' what the movie hands you. The cast promptly begin imagining less depressing endings for the film. This was mentioned in the official episode guide as being based on the universal negative reactions of the writing team upon first viewing the film, and the skit seemed almost psychologically necessary.** In the episode ''Film/SoulTaker'', Crow and Servo refuse to accept the HappilyEverAfter and claim what ''really'' happened was a DownerEnding where the protagonists' relationship failed and the hero ended up in jail, making bootleg vodka in the toilet. Mike asks if they aren't being a little doom-and-gloom, and they [[SarcasmMode sarcastically]] suggest an ending where everything is [[TastesLikeDiabetes puppies and sunshine and rainbows]]. Mike asks if it ''has'' to be unrealistically depressing or unrealistically happy with no middle ground, and they say yep, it's either toilet vodka or unicorn giggles.* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', we learn that Willow always stops watching ''MoulinRouge'' a few minutes before it ends so she can pretend it has a happy ending. Which means she must not watch [[ForegoneConclusion the first five minutes either]], unless she wants to be confused.* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe learns that her mother did this with numerous movies because she didn't want her children being exposed to sad things. Right before she [[HypocriticalHumor killed herself]].* [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Marge Simpson]] has shown such an attitude towards her children, eating a story book about Joan D'Arc to avoid telling Lisa that the French warrior was burned at the stake, commenting it was easier to swallow than the Disney/{{Bambi}} video. A later episode reveals Marge and Homer walked out of ''Main/{{Carrie}}'' after she was crowned prom queen so she could pretend the story ended happily.** In another episode, Homer has been reading to Lisa at night from what is obviously HarryPotter with the SerialNumbersFiledOff. He's hesitant to read her the ending because it's sad (a reference to [[spoiler:Dumbledore's death in book six]]), so instead he invents a happier ending to tell her. [[spoiler:Later Lisa pulls out a second copy of the book and reads the true ending for herself, then decides that "Dad's ending was better."]]* In Creator/StephenColbert's book ''I Am America and So Can You'', he mentions that he couldn't enjoy ''Disney/TheLionKing'' Broadway musical because he couldn't turn it off before Mufasa's death.* The trope is referenced in a ''ComicStrip/{{Nemi}}'' comic strip where the titular character's friend is trying to tell her about someone who appeared in the film ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening''. Nemi then says that ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' doesn't have any sequels. Her friend realises she's "repressing everything you don't like", which he then comments is why she has not seen ''[[Film/AlienResurrection Aliens 4]]'', to which she answers, "''Aliens 4''?" Her friend also says, "I know you've seen both sequels," implying that he practices Fanon Discontinuity himself or is genuinely unaware of the exact number of sequels in the ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' franchise.* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Louise's substitute teacher is an avid Thomas Edison fan, and vehemently denies that Edison ever performed any unsavory experiments involving AC electricity and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_%28elephant%29 a circus elephant named Topsy.]]* In ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'', T-Rex tries to apply discontinuity to [[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=291 his own life]]* In ''Series/QueerAsFolk'', Vince and Stuart are discussing Vince's boyfriend, Cameron, and his apparent lack of interest in Vince's life. Stuart suggests that (since Vince is a huge ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanboy) that within six months '[Cameron]'ll be able to name all the "Doctor Who"s in order. Creator/WilliamHartnell, Creator/PatrickTroughton, Creator/JonPertwee, Creator/TomBaker, Creator/PeterDavison, Creator/ColinBaker, Creator/SylvesterMcCoy.'-->'''Vince''': What about Creator/PaulMcGann?-->'''Stuart and Vince together''': Paul [=McGann=] doesn't count! [[note]][=McGann=] would later be VindicatedByHistory thanks to his role in ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', and is now considered a legitimate Doctor by the vast majority of the fanbase, besides being canonized in New Who.[[/note]]* Discussed in [[https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/04/17 this]] ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' strip in relation to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequel trilogy and ''Film/TheGodfather III''.* ''WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'':** In the ''VideoGame/DarkSeed II'' longplay, Mike Dawson losing at ring toss became a RunningGag, to the point that they even posted a video of just the losing animation. When Mike finally gets the item to cheat at the ring toss carnival game, he steps up to play... and then loses again because slowbeef spliced over the footage of him winning. They then tell the viewer that Retsupurae-canon is that Mike Dawson never won the ring toss game and never will.** In the ''Space Adventure Cobra'' longplay, slowbeef and Diabetus play up minor character Rock Knight as a badass. When Cobra later returns and finds him apparently dead in a burning building, slowbeef immediately yells "NOT CANON" and insists that it's secretly [[BackupTwin his brother]]. Or that he's such a badass that he's sleeping through the fire and will put it out when he wakes up.* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' when Brian and Stewie go to UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} they discover that the pamphlet lists nothing happening between 1939 and 1945 and the tour guide furiously denies it.--> '''Tour Guide:''' [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Nothing happened! Everyone was on vacation!]]* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', this can be seen in diehard ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan Susan [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-06-20 shelving the movies out of sequence]] and equally rabid ''StarWars'' fan George's [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-26 rant about midichlorians]].* Given UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup had many periods where fans discuss "that doesn't count" (prior to the UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague, when the NHL was only 6 teams, etc.), hockey writer Sean [=McIndoe=] [[http://grantland.com/the-triangle/passing-judgment-on-your-stanley-cup-title/ decided to see which titles earned to receive such discontinuity]]. [[spoiler:All of them! Though one is given a BaitAndSwitch "yes" [[TrollingCreator to press on Buffalo's]] BerserkButton.]]* In the [=CollegeHumor=] video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNlAZLCGLuU Luigi Finally Snaps]], Luigi mentions the ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' movie, upon which Mario gets angry and slaps him in the face.--> '''Mario:''' I told you: we'll never talk about that! It never happened!* The ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode [[Recap/CastleS5E6TheFinalFrontier "The Final Frontier"]] has the VocalMinority in the ''Nebula 9'' fanbase calling the continuation webisodes made by some of the original cast members a desecration of the property. They even sent death threats, which Beckett's homicide squad briefly investigated before pronouncing them {{Red Herring}}s.* In the ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' review of ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'':--> '''Yahtzee:''' Don't take this the wrong way though. [=BioShock=] Infinite is a retread, but it's the good kind of retread that uses a formula that works to explore new ideas, and it's a worthy sequel to the original.--> '''Interlocutor figure:''' [[VideoGame/{{Bioshock 2}} Don't you mean second sequel, Yahtzee?]]--> '''Yahtzee:''' [[GetOut ...GET OUT]].* In the episode "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rainbow Dash gets in an argument with another Daring Do fan named Quibble Pants who doesn't want to acknowledge the existence of the later Daring Do books because he thinks they focus too much on unrealistic action clichés.* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' episode "Dinosaur Seen in the Sewers!" has the Turtles watching the series finale for the cartoon "Crognard the Barbarian", only to find that [[SuddenDownerEnding he just gets eaten by a dragon and that's it]]. They're extremely disappointed at the anti-climactic ending, and Michelangelo watches it again, but rewinds to just before he gets eaten and pauses it there. -->'''Mikey:''' Aw yeah, fixed it! See? Now he wins! ----